Friday Night Notes

finally back at it...


It took several weeks, but Pastor Tim finally got his sidekick back, and got a new 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 Bible sign. You will remember that a young homosexual thrashed our last sign a couple of months ago; well after a bit of work, Pastor Tim finally got the young man to pay for a new sign, and: "Voilà!" The good preacher made a number of modifications to the frame of the sign in an attempt to preserve it from kicks, graffiti and slashes. Time will tell if it will endure the harshness of the marketplace.

After several weeks off, I must admit, I was somewhat rusty. One realizes quickly just how difficult open-air evangelism is physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually, when one has been out of the game for awhile. And it's not like Pastor Tim went easy on me on my first night back: we were out there for four hours! It was also cold out there. We've had an usually cold April this year in Eastern Canada; I actually wore my winter coat tonight.

Sadly, the market hasn't improved one bit in the week's I was absent. It took roughly 5 minutes for someone to suggest I was mentally defective, and less than 10 minutes for someone to curse at me with deep hatred. I had thought that perhaps Good Friday would have worked in our favour: in the past, I had noted how friendlier people were with us when a "Christian Holiday" was nigh. Well, not tonight, I can assure you of that. We were mocked and cursed at, and the Name of the Lord was blasphemed repeatedly. The Lord have mercy on our unbelieving audience.

We had a few one-on-one conversations tonight, but none of them showed much promise. I dealt with a young man named Brock who described himself as a "New Age Christian". Oh dear, what a mess. I could hardly help him at all, because while he agreed with everything I said, he would afterward claim or profess something totally unbiblical! He left still clinging to the idea that he and I were saved souls, just different. This young man needs to be prayed for!

I also spoke with another young man who pridefully professed to be a scientifically minded atheist. He first came to Pastor Tim under the guise of someone desiring to know more about our faith. By the time I started dealing with him however, it was clear that the fool wasn't interested in the Truth, but wanted to "show up" the ignorant/inferior Christian with his eloquent and well researched "facts". When I realized this I said: "My friend, the bottom line is the Lord has given me faith, and you remain faithless. Until that changes, you and I can argue until tomorrow morning, and no progress will be made. Good night now." And with that, I walked away and carried on with our evangelistic effort.

The devil can really waste a preacher's time by sending false teachers/professors to argue without end various points of doctrine and/or teaching. My rule of thumb is: if you share a biblical truth with someone and the answer is "no", or even "yes, but...", then anything else you say is likely not going to get you any further. It's time to move on.

A good number of Bible tracts were handed out tonight. Please pray that they would be used of the Lord to save some lost sinners. The Lord be glorified.

With that, I'm off to bed. It's been a busy week, and I have to finalize a sermon for the Lord's Day evening church service. Remember me in your prayers, dear saints.

God bless you!


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism